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I just tried a couple Aviations with the Aviation Gin and have to say that I'm not that impressed. I tried a few different recipes with and without creme de violette but none struck me as being any better than other gins I've used. I'll stick to the Miller's Westbourne Strength for my Aviations (since I can't get the Plymouth Navy Strength here in the US).

I gotta admit I find it a little odd that they named what they are calling a "Genever-style" gin after the Aviation cocktail. I don't think anybody advises using Genever in the Aviation. Actually, it's a bit odd that they would launch a "Genever-Style" gin as their first gin, period. It's true, Genevers can be hard to find in the US; but, they are called for in few cocktails. I can find 11 in the cocktaildb and Chas Baker calls for it in the Hemingway attributed "Death in the Gulf Stream".

Personally, I think it would be nicer to have a well made modern example of an Old Tom gin.

donbert, have you had other Genever gins? Do you think the Aviation Gin compares to them?

According to the Bluecoat Website, the gin is only available in PA and NJ for now. However, the website might be a little behind the curve.

I suspect you're probably right about the San Francisco bottle though. A "suitcase" import, indeed.

Try a Bluecoat Aviation! I bet that would be really good with the citrus-ey character of the gin. I made up a drink with Bluecoat that was a tall gin-kir variant. Bluecoat, creme de cassis and soda with a big lemon twist. Also refreshing, but more of a summer beverage.

Includes tasting notes for several new generation gins including some I hadn't heard of before. G'Vine sounds particularly intruiging, distilled from grape based neutral spirits and flavored with green grape flowers.

I don't remember what brand of gin was in my very first cocktail, but I do know that it was highly perfumed, and it fell into what I now call the "slap me upside the head with juniper and dab a little behind your ears" category. Think Tanqueray. Think Beefeater. Think Boodles. Think Plymouth. Traditional gins all, these stalwarts are as dry as a bone, and in varying degrees they're all about juniper and perfume. Not all gins follow this path, though, and some of the new bottlings on the market come bearing rather unusual flavor profiles.

---Erik EllestadIf the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck...Bernal Heights, SF, CA

Gin was my very first distilled spirit. I sampled it in a room-temperature gimlet -- gin and Rose's Lime Juice -- at a party thrown by my parents. Dad made it for me. Why room temperature? This was in England, circa 1963. I was 12 years old. Dad thought it was time to wean me off the Guinness. [Italics mine.]

THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the many things that are so cool about Gary.

Proud to say that I was at the Plymouth distillery last year, and I actually made a batch of gin in their lab. My first attempt ever at this and the gin that I made was . . . absolutely disastrous! God Bless Distillers.

“The practice is to commence with a brandy or gin ‘cocktail’ before breakfast, by way of an appetizer. Subsequently, a ‘digester’ will be needed. Then, in due course and at certain intervals, a ‘refresher,’ a ‘reposer,’ a ‘settler,’ a ‘cooler,’ an ‘invigorator,’ a ‘sparkler,’ and a ‘rouser,’ pending the final ‘nightcap,’ or midnight dram.” Life and Society in America by Samuel Phillips Day. Published by Newman and Co., 1880.

Thanks, Katie, for the strategy about air travel. I re-read my message and it sounded like I haven't tried Bluecoat. I have been lucky enough to try it, once. The not-so-widespread blue bottle got an honoroable mention in the gin tasting in our current issue.

my motto: taste, savor, sharecirculation manager, imbibe magazinecelebrate the world in a glass

I've put spirits, and wine, in both checked and carried-on baggage (the latter before the liquid ban in the US), with no problems. Just make sure it's packaged in such a way that it won't break in transit.

Thanks, Katie, for the strategy about air travel. I re-read my message and it sounded like I haven't tried Bluecoat. I have been lucky enough to try it, once. The not-so-widespread blue bottle got an honoroable mention in the gin tasting in our current issue.

Cool. Not surprised it did so well in competition. I find it quite delicious and well balanced. I confess I'm not a lover of the juniper "piney-ness" in many gins, but love the citrus-forward flavor of the Bluecoat quite a bit.

Thanks, Katie, for the strategy about air travel. I re-read my message and it sounded like I haven't tried Bluecoat. I have been lucky enough to try it, once. The not-so-widespread blue bottle got an honoroable mention in the gin tasting in our current issue.

Cool. Not surprised it did so well in competition. I find it quite delicious and well balanced. I confess I'm not a lover of the juniper "piney-ness" in many gins, but love the citrus-forward flavor of the Bluecoat quite a bit.

I bought my first bottle of Bluecoat and I really liked it. I was in Philadelphia last Saturday for much shorter than planned but I stopped into the liquor store on Chestnut and bought two bottles. I made a martini last night and it really stood apart from gins like Ten and Hendrick's. I'm not a big citrus gin fan but the Bluecoat still had enough dry hints to make for a tasty martini. I'm looking forward to mixing it in other cocktails.

I have an idea for a Bluecoat-based cocktail, but I need to get my hands on a bottle of those Fee Lemon Bitters.

I'm going to call my local Fee Bros. connection tomorrow and see if they have the Lemon Bitters. Failing that, I'll call Fee Bros. directly and see if there are other local retailers I don't know about, or see if they have small samples for bar/restaurants that might be shipped.

Have any of you tried the "Blue Gin" produced by Hans Reisetbauer? It's uncertain whether it will be imported into the US, though a few bottles made it here for an event in San Francisco last month. By my palate it's exceptionally dry and clean. And if you're going out of your way to find a Reisetbauer bottle, also check out his Carrot eau-de-vie.

Just picked up a small bottle of Tanqueray's Rangpur, but I'm unsure what to do with it. I tend to prefer the juniper-heavy gins, but I wanted to give this a try. Has anyone had any great successes mixing this gin, or tried any good drinks with it?

I saw Rangpur a week or two ago and wondered what exactly it was. Odd that Tanqueray would make another light juniper gin even with No. 10. If that's what it's like though, I'm partial to DrinkBoy's Bloomsbury. It's a tiny bit on the sweet side, but not so much to make it unsuitable for before dinner. The original recipe calls for Tanqueray 10, but I have had success with other lightly junipered gins like Bombay Sapphire and such.

Great article! And great to see that they actually tasted a spirit intended for chilling and mixing, well... chilled and mixed. I'll have more to say on this once I have a few more minutes, but there's one thing that puzzles me. The author makes a point of mentioning the higher proof gins, noting that Old Raj comes in at 110 proof and then saying that "Tanqueray and Tanqueray No. 10 at 94.6 proof were the next highest." Except he forgot Junípero, which is 98.6 proof. This must be an error in his notes, because the ratings section has it at only 86 proof.

I was happy to see Plymouth and Junípero rated so highly, although I was surprised that Tanqueray wasn't more appealing. I was also quite surprised to see Old Raj rating so highly. I may have to try that one again.

Great article! And great to see that they actually tasted a spirit intended for chilling and mixing, well... chilled and mixed. I'll have more to say on this once I have a few more minutes, but there's one thing that puzzles me. The author makes a point of mentioning the higher proof gins, noting that Old Raj comes in at 110 proof and then saying that "Tanqueray and Tanqueray No. 10 at 94.6 proof were the next highest." Except he forgot Junípero, which is 98.6 proof. This must be an error in his notes, because the ratings section has it at only 86 proof.

I was happy to see Plymouth and Junípero rated so highly, although I was surprised that Tanqueray wasn't more appealing. I was also quite surprised to see Old Raj rating so highly. I may have to try that one again.

yup. it was nicely done. they could have discussed the olive controversy and why "dirty" is bad...but that's nitpicking.

I completely agree with their sentiments on Junipero (which I rate more highly than Plymouth for martinis -- Plymouth is my general cocktail gin though)...and Old Raj. The thing about OR is that it's really only suitable for martinis..or even sipping neat (very chilled). It's flavor profile just wouldn't work in most gin cocktails....its very hard to balance with. But it's a great gin to contemplate...carefully....it comes on like a truck.